


Why Being Team Attic Has More Benefits Than You Think

by Catmod



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, brief mention of abuse, but all around more fluff than angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 07:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18256913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catmod/pseuds/Catmod
Summary: It's usual to lose things when moving to a new house. But there is more to this house than it seems. And sometimes good things can appear in the most unexpected of ways.





	Why Being Team Attic Has More Benefits Than You Think

Bitty is the first one to realize something odd going on around the house. It starts with little things going missing around the house. A small handful of spare change left on the counter here. A batch of cookies a single cookie short there. A pair of old tennis shoes disappearing from the back of the closet. Nothing too big. He just assumed it was Jack. It wasn't anything worth mentioning by any stress of the imagination. It’s normal when moving to a new house to lose things. 

Then it's slightly bigger things. Things Jack definitely notices. The old windbreaker he used to go jogging in went missing. His book of hockey history has been misplaced along with a few old books history books from when he went to Samwell. A twenty dollar bill goes missing from his wallet that he could have sworn he hadn't spent yet. He almost confronts Bitty on it. But then again, Bitty is known to start rearranging things if the mood strikes him enough. He talks himself into it being over nothing and leaves it at that. It's not like he really needed that twenty dollars. It was just to tip the pizza guy anyway. He probably just used it to buy some more baking supplies for the house. 

It isn't until one of his mini pies that he feels the need to bring it up. A cookie is one thing. But those were for Lardo’s birthday! “I'm not mad…” He starts as he walks into the living room Jack was sitting in watching a WWII documentary. “But ya’ll need to ask before taking a pie. They hadn't even finished cooling yet.”

Jack turns with a look of confusion on his face. “I didn't take any pie.” He says honestly confused about what Bitty was implying. 

“Oh come on Jack.” Bitty snorts a little annoyed. “A pie doesn't just up and walk out of the fridge.”

“I didn't take your pie, Bits. I knew you were making those to send to Lardo.” 

“Well if you didn't who did? A ghost?”

“I don't know? Maybe? There were those ghosts that were haunting Ransom.”

Bitty fights back a snort. He's supposed to be mad! He sighs and turns to go back in the kitchen. “Fine if you won't admit it, I guess I won't be making any maple apple pies for the next month.” Shame he had to let those granny smiths he just bought go to waste...

Jack fights back a groan of disappointment. That was his one cheat food! He didn't even take those pies. But if he didn't, who did? They didn't have any guests over in a while. It's not like they had any pets. Did they have some kind of rat problem? He flips through his phone and decides it’s best if they were better safe than sorry. 

A week later they have an exterminator come round and set up some traps and spray for any other bugs. Bitty nearly lost it at the thought of having “vermin” anywhere near his pristine kitchen. They both sleep a bit easier at the thought of it all behind them. 

\----------------------------------------

A month later Jack goes on a roadie with the Falconers and Bitty has to go out of town for a few to talk with his publisher about his latest cookbook. They’re gone for about a week. When they come back their neighbor greets them with her usual smile and a tray of cookies.

“Nice to see you again! Why didn't you tell me you guys are adopted a kid? Congratulations! We were all wondering when you two would get kids!” The elderly old woman says with a smile. “Took me by surprise too when I saw him through your attic window… and you never know what kind of people are out there these days. But he didn’t look to me like some hoodlum. And he offered me a smile and a nice wave when he spotted me, imagine my embarrassment there! I just knew you two finally decided to foster!” Jack and Bitty share a worried look over her head as she hands them a tray of cookies. “Well here’s a tray of my butter cookies as congratulations. The poor boy looked so skinny! They just don’t feed those kids right in those foster homes... Now I best head back inside. Wrestlemania is about to be on and I'm about to be fifty bucks richer by the end of it!” She laughs and waves them off as she heads back inside. 

Bitty and Jack are both taken aback and stand in the driveway for a good thirty seconds before rushing in the house. “Oh gosh how could we not notice someone living in our own house! All the things going missing! The doors suddenly closing or opening! The pie!! I was going to hire an exorcist! Oh my god, I think I'm gonna be sick!” 

A couple of minutes later Jack comes back downstairs dragging a kid no more than fourteen behind him. The kid is skinny is the first thing Bitty notices. Like he hasn't seen a decent meal in months. And considering the kid has lived in their house eating nothing but stray pastries, it doesn't surprise him too much. But it tugs at his heartstrings much more than he expected. The teen has shaggy dirty blonde hair that looks like it hasn’t seen a comb in months. And the mystery of where their missing clothes went was solved when he took notice of the teen wearing his old Samwell running shorts that went missing a couple of weeks back. Jack pushes him down onto the couch and stares him down making the poor kid shrink into himself and seem even smaller if that was even possible. 

Bitty takes a deep, steadying breath before stepping forward to stand in front of the teen. “So…” He begins making the kid flinch. “Would ya’ll care to explain why you've been secretly living in our house?” The teen doesn't speak, instead choosing to try and burn a hole in the carpet with his stare. He sighs and looks to Jack for help but Jack is just as confused as he is about what to do. 

He comes to a decision when the kid’s stomach lets out a low grumble and disappears into the kitchen. He comes back a few minutes later carrying a dinner tray with three slices of pie and steaming cups of coffee. He sets one down in front of each of them making Jack and the teen look at him in confusion. 

“Well I don't know about ya’ll by I'm starving. And while pie doesn't make for a good meal, I don't feel like cooking either.” He says with an exaggerated sigh make Jack smile fondly and the teen to finally break his silence to giggle a little uneasily. “Now the three of us are gonna sit here and eat. After that, we’ll get to talking.” He says with a pointed look to the teen who looked at him in shock as a plate was put in front of him. 

They ate in tense silence as Jack and Bitty kept sneaking glances at the teen. He sat still for a few moments after Jack and Bitty started eating. Then with a quick glance between them, he quickly snatched the pie plate off the table and held it close like he was afraid they’d take it away from him. Bitty and Jack shared a look over the kid's head as they watched him eat. What happened to this kid that lead him to secretly live in their house? 

Once the pie was finished and Bitty collected the dishes did the teen speak. “I’m sorry.” Were the first words out of his mouth. “I-I didn’t mean too… I mean I guess I kinda did… But I didn’t mean to stay here as long as I did… I’m really sorry! Please, I-I’ll leave, and you won’t ever see from me again!” The words tumbled out of his mouth and he began to shiver in fear as he looked back and forth between Bitty and Jack, waiting for them to start yelling at him.

“Now calm down now,” Bitty reassures and places a hand on the teen's shoulder making the kid flinch even harder. Bitty quickly withdraws his hand. “Now listen, Jack and I aren’t going to just toss you to the dogs here. You look like you don’t have much else to go. And we’d like to help you any way we can. But we can’t do that without knowing what drove you here in the first place.”

The teen sniffles as Bitty says this making both their hearts clench. “I don’t deserve this. Why aren’t I being dragged away by the cops right now? My own parents don’t give a shit about what happens to me! You shouldn’t care about some weirdo nutjob that spent the last three months living in your attic!”

“Because you obviously need help,” Jack said finally speaking up. “You’re what? Thirteen, fourteen tops?”He receives a mumbled “Sixteen,” in reply that makes him frown. When was the last time this kid had a decent meal? “Your parents must have worried themselves sick by now.”

“My parents wouldn’t care if I was dead in a ditch right now!” He snapped back and then shrunk even further into himself. He looked so small in Jack’s already gigantic old hoodie. “I left my computer out in the living room and-,” He lets out a hiccuping sob that hits their hearts like a knife. “And the-they saw I was looking at the message board for other gay kids to connect and share experiences. They asked me why I was looking at that and I thought ‘better now than never!’ and told them I was on a gay message board because I was gay…. They didn’t take it well.” 

“Oh, honey,” Bitty says and scoots closer to him on the couch but he shrinks away.

“Mom just wouldn’t stop crying and when I told her it’s not that big a deal Dad punched me in the face.” He looks up and Jack and Bitty now notice the mostly healed yellow traces of a bruise on his right cheek. But he’s not really looking at them, completely lost in the memory. “He then grabs me and throws me in my room and tells me to pack my things. When I asked him what he meant he nearly hit me again but mom stopped him. She wouldn’t even look me in the eye. Just laid her hand on his arm and stopped him. He told me I had ten minutes to pack my things. I was either going to one of those conversion camps or out on the street, either way, there was no way in hell he was having a f-faggot in his house.” 

Bitty gasped and raised a hand to his mouth in horror. He looked over to Jack who had his mouth set into a hard line. But Bitty could see how his hands shook with anxiety. Neither of them had the best time living in the closet. But none of their experiences came close to the trauma this kid’s gone through.

He went silent for a brief moment as he rubbed his face in his sleeve. “I went with the street. They must have called all my friends’ parents in advance because no one was willing to put me up. So I used the last of my money to take the next bus out of town and ended up here in Providence. My parents canceled my phone before I could even make it out of town. I couldn’t find a shelter that would take me. The ones for like abuse survivors and runaways wouldn’t even let me in because I was a guy. And the homeless shelters were terrifying and would always reach capacity before it was my turn anyway. If I asked any stranger they’d just call the police and send me back to my parents! So I wandered the city, slept on a lot of park benches and scrounged what I could from the trash cans. Then I remembered that sometimes homeless people would break into empty houses and could claim squatters rights, so they couldn’t like arrest you or whatever. And this house looked nice… But then you guys moved in like a week later and I just couldn’t walk downstairs and say ‘Hey! I’m secretly living in your attic! Don’t mind me!’” He let out a small, hysterical laugh. “I was gonna leave! Honest! I didn’t want any trouble! But then you made those cookies. And they smelled soooo good and I couldn’t help myself ...And then I kept not being able to help myself. And here we are.” He looked down resolutely at the ground not able to look at them.

Jack and Bitty share another silent conversation over the kid’s head. “....What’s your name kiddo?” Jack was the one to first break the silence.

“Jackson…. Jackson Fisher.” The reply came out so quietly they had to strain to hear it. Like the name itself would burn him.

“Well, Jackson, I think there is only one thing we can do.” Jackson looks up at him, for the first time since he had been sat down here with the kind of resigned expression that breaks his heart. “Would you like the upstairs or downstairs bedroom?”

Jackson’s eyes widen in shock. There’s a barely restrained glimmer of hope in his eyes. “What?”

“Well, the attic isn’t exactly the best place in the house to make a bedroom.” Bitty jumps in as he stands to tuck himself gently into Jack’s side. “That dusty old couch up there hardly counts as a bed. Though I guess we could renovate it to be a bedroom if you prefer it. But you’ll need somewhere to sleep in the meantime. We can go out tomorrow and get you a new set of clothes too. Fall is coming and those old shorts won’t do a thing to keep you warm.”

“I’m sorry... what?!” Jackson shouts in shock. “I-I... I broke into your house! I stole your clothes! Ate your food! And- and you’re gonna just let me stay here?” He stands up and starts pacing like a caged animal. “Why are you being so nice to me?” His voice cracks and Bitty reaches out and gently places his hand on his shoulder. This time Jackson doesn’t flinch.

“Jackson, I know what it’s like I was a young closeted gay kid living in a homophobic town,” Bitty says as he tries to keep his voice steady. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry your parents couldn’t understand. You’ve struggled for so long all on your own. Please, let us help you.”

Jack walks over and smiles at Jackson who is looking to him now waiting for him to confirm he actually hearing them right. “Well, I guess Mrs. Wilkinson was right after all.” He laughs, making Bitty snicker. “Got the orders reversed there, but can’t let her know that.”  
________________________________

A couple of months, multiple forms, and court visits later, Bitty and Jack are now Jackson’s proud new guardians. They day they’re signed and filed they hold a huge party with all the old SMH team, Jack’s teammates, and a few of the neighbors. It was nearly as huge as one of their old Epikegsters in terms of rowdy drunkness. Jackson was the exact opposite of the skinny, frightened child they had found that day. He was now joking with Ransom and Holster like he was always been a member of their quirky little family.

“Jack Mother Fucking Zimmerman!!” Shitty screams as he nakedly throws himself at Jack over the back of the couch. He had helped Jack and Bitty through the strenuous process of gaining guardianship. “How’s it feel to be a dad!”

Jack laughs and just allows Shitty to drape himself over his shoulders. “Feels great! Jackson is a great kid.”

“I don’t think I ever asked,” Shitty hums as he flops head over heels onto the couch. “Where did you find this kid in the first place? Didn’t think you and Bits were gonna have kids for another few years.”

“That’s a funny story actually!” Butty chimes in as he passes Jack a water bottle and sits down next to him on the arm of the couch. Some of the others gather a little closer to hear as well. “So, first we notice things are going missing around the house, and we couldn’t figure out for the life of us why. I legitimately thought the house was haunted or worse: infested with rats!” This gets a laugh out of everyone and an eye roll from Jackson. “Then after we both came in from out of town to Mrs. Wilkinson congratulating us on adopting! She even baked us cookies! And we were confused. And then she mentioned seeing someone in the attic! Turns out Jackson here was living in our attic the whole time!” Everyone looks between Jack, Bitty, and Jackson looking for some kind of confirmation to this being a joke. 

“Dude!” Holster is the first to break the silence making everyone turn and look at him. “Don’t you guys see it?! They just ultimately answered the roach vs. attic!”

That sparks a scream as the year-long debate is brought back full force. 

“That is only one instance where that worked out without someone getting stabbed in their sleep!”

“That just proves that roaches are the worst possible outcome!”

“Everyone knows that Jack and Bitty are the exceptions not the rule!”

Jack and Bitty laugh hysterically as they watch their friends continue to debate. “Do I want to know what they’re all screaming about?” Jackson asks as he sits in the spot Shitty vacated on the couch.

“Just an old question that has lasted for over a decade,” Bitty says amusedly. “Would you rather find out someone was secretly living in your attic or 1000 roaches?”

“Gross. Roaches are the absolute worst! Who would want that?” Jackson says with disgust making the screaming escalate as he joins the fray.

“You don’t count cause you were literally the person secretly living in the attic!”

“Let the boy speak!”

Jack and Bitty laugh and cuddled closer to each other. Surrounded by their friends and new family. They definitely preferred it being a person living in their attic. Who knew it would have such a lovely result?

**Author's Note:**

> Been sitting on this one for a while now but it's finally done! Comment below if you're Team Attic or Team Roach!


End file.
